Pictures of painted great helms. -- myArmoury.com

Patrick Lawrence · Posted: Fri 15 Apr, 2011 10:36 pm Post subject: Pictures of painted great helms.

Does any one happen to have any pictures of painted great helms? I am trying to come up with ideas for paint jobs for mine.

Len Parker · Posted: Sat 16 Apr, 2011 6:13 am Post subject:

If you just mean solid colors there are many examples in art, but if you mean highly decorated I haven't seen any. Here's some in solid. http://www.tforum.info/forum/index.php?showtopic=6141

Chad Arnow · myArmoury Team

There's this example, with black and gold decoration:

[ Linked Image ]

The Maciejowksi Bible also shows many helms painted in solid colors. Here's just one example.

[ Linked Image ]

Patrick Lawrence · Posted: Sat 16 Apr, 2011 8:39 am Post subject:

Yes the black and gold one from the features page on great helms is the one I will probably end up doing. But I had seem some that were painted two colors half and half down the middle. Just not sure how accurate it is. To bad most illustrations are only from the side :)

Patrick Lawrence · Posted: Sat 16 Apr, 2011 5:05 pm Post subject:

You know that black and gold helmet is even more interesting than I thought. I was getting together all the images I could find of it and enhancing them and noticed all the black decoration. I had missed that before just glancing at it. So it was really black gold and metal it looks like.

Roderick Stacey · Posted: Sat 16 Apr, 2011 7:48 pm Post subject:

My wife's painted great helm. Based on the Macky Bible. The crucifix is gold leaf.

[ Linked Image ]

Patrick Lawrence · Posted: Sat 16 Apr, 2011 11:37 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the nice example Roderick.

Patrick Lawrence · Posted: Tue 19 Apr, 2011 7:35 pm Post subject:

Well I finally got around to painting my great helm. It is not just a plain paint job but aged a little since it is ment to be used as a prop for illustrations. The lighting in the photo makes the weathering etc look more pronounced than it really is.

Thomas R. · Posted: Wed 20 Apr, 2011 12:13 am Post subject:

Hi Patrick,

the paintjob looks very authentic. I really like the idea of painted helmets and will definitely paint my kettle helmet as shown in the Morgan Bible. I hesitated almost a year now, because I wasn't sure, if it will look "right".

Best wishes,
Thomas

Patrick Lawrence · Posted: Wed 20 Apr, 2011 12:22 am Post subject:

Thanks Thomas authentic is exactly what I was going for :) By the way the choice was easy for me since this was a super cheap used helmet I had cut apart some and redone. I think I have a total of about $19 in it.

Oh and like you I really like the painted look. Plus I like the rust prevention.

Len Parker · Posted: Thu 21 Apr, 2011 6:48 pm Post subject:

A little late, but I did find some multi colored greathelms http://manuscriptminiatures.com/static/miniat...allery.jpg http://manuscriptminiatures.com/static/miniat...allery.jpg

Patrick Lawrence · Posted: Thu 21 Apr, 2011 7:14 pm Post subject:

Those are some interesting paint jobs Len. They are almost modern art like :)

Thomas R. · Posted: Thu 28 Apr, 2011 12:08 pm Post subject:

So... since I had announced to paint my kettlehat in this thread, I thought, I could show the result here either. Well, it's no Great Helm, but nevertheless a great helmet ;) - at least for me. (If it's not suitable for this thread, please let it be moved).

I painted it with acrylic paint and applied a matte spray lack to make it waterproof. I gained some insight on how fast rust can work, while doing it. The day I began the paintjob was very hot and the sun burned down on my balcony and the paint dried almost immediately after applying. Well, then I ran out of white paint. The next day was somehow cooler, no sun shone at all... Well I applied the (waterbased) paint and after approx. 15 minutes there were small reddish dots of rust visible underneath the white paint! the metal had rusted while I painted it! So be aware if you use acrylic paint: do it only on hot days or use a hair dryer to dry the paint instantly.

Well, I let it dry and put several more layers of paint on it, and now it looks quite authentic, as if a medieval soldier had painted his helmet to protect it from beginning rust :D

I used the Morgan Bible as a guidance (as I did with my infantry shield, shown here: http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/download.php?id=29551 )

So this is the result. As always are further suggestions appreciated!

Thomas

Sander Marechal · Posted: Thu 28 Apr, 2011 1:13 pm Post subject:

Very nice! Any pictures of you wearing it with the rest of your kit?

Thomas R. · Posted: Thu 28 Apr, 2011 1:26 pm Post subject:

Hi Sander,

those will follow after the weekend. We are doing right now our easter camp - tomorrow and on saturday will be time to take some pictures of me in my kit.

Thomas

Patrick Lawrence · Posted: Thu 28 Apr, 2011 3:11 pm Post subject:

Thomas R. I like the look of your helmet.

The rust you mentioned is why I put on a layer or two of rustolem first. Then used acrylic gesso and paint on top of that.

Sam Gordon Campbell · Posted: Thu 28 Apr, 2011 11:23 pm Post subject:

Patrick Lawrence · Posted: Thu 28 Apr, 2011 11:26 pm Post subject:

Sam Gordon Campbell I agree plain steel gets boring at some point. And we have lots of evidence that they were painting and decorating their helmets.